We have many clients who are interested in purchasing their Florida Dream Home and using it as a vacation home or a future retirement home and renting or leasing it out while they are not using it. Although our team is not in the renting or property management area of real estate, we are capable of assisting our clientele in finding an arrangement that would suite their needs. This page is provide to try and answer many of the frequently asked questions about this subject.
Clearwater is located in the west central portion of Florida between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico with the Intra Coastal Waterway running through the area. One million visitors a year come to here to enjoy its mild climate, sparkling white beach, silky sands, safe environment, and reasonably priced family attractions and lodging. Clearwater is ranked as “Best City Beach”. People can indulge in parasailing, deep-sea fishing, wave running, water-skiing, beach combing, golf or just about any other outdoor activity your heart desires. Many year round attractions are available in the area and all of these things make Clearwater an excellent place to make such a real estate arrangement. The continued increase in property values in the area make owning and renting or leasing the property while you are not using it an excellent long term real estate investment.
There are a large range of options available to rent or lease a property and the cost of doing this varies greatly and will depend largely on how much time you are willing or able to devote to the project. Since short term renters are primarily from outside the area, the internet is their major source for locating and renting properties. Just as you probably found our web site by doing a search, most people will find and rent your property in the same way. The following paragraphs will discuss some of these options and you should keep in mind that the cheaper the option the more labor intensive it will be for you and the more expensive the less labor for you. Geography, your available time, magagerial skills and other such factors will determine which options would be the best and most successful for you.
There are web sites available that will list an advertisement for your property for free. These sites make their money by selling advertisements to commercial ventures. This would provide you only with phone calls or e-mails and the rest is up to you. In these cases your ad is going to be one of many. Some of the web sites of this type have a preferred or sponsored area of the web site for the search results where your property is more prominent just as the major search engine do. There is a cost attached to this and it generally a small fee for each time someone clicks to see the details of your rental. This type of arrangement varies in price and can be limited in cost depending on the individual web site. There are also companies that advertise your rental and all calls are directed to them and they screen the calls and then contact you when they have someone who wants to rent your place. There is of course a fee for this. There are also web sites which charge you a monthly or annual fee to place a large ad with pictures and a description on their web site. In addition to the annual fee there is generally a one time set up fee. All of the above options can provide you with prospects but the details and the actual property management details are left up to you.
On the upper end of the scale are the companies that specialize in property management. These companies will provide the owner a full range of management skills and attend to all the details needed to advertise, rent and maintain the property for the absentee owner. This type of service is normally based on a percentage of the rent. In this case the owner is free of any day to day responsibility for the property.
If you are interested in purchasing a property as a vacation home or future retirement home, the team is here to help you and make the purchase and the rental it as smooth and trouble free as possible. Just contact us if you require any additional information at this time.
Michael & Cindy Morris
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC.
Cindy: (727) 480-8427
Michael: (727) 251-7447
FAX (727) 397-5978
